Dominion Voting Systems has sued MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, alleging $ 1.2 billion in damages to his brand for the defamatory comments Lindell has repeatedly made about the company.
The complaint accuses Lindell of perpetuating a “big lie” about Dominion’s role in the 2020 presidential election. He says he knowingly disseminated false information about how Dominion’s voting machines perform audits , investments from foreign countries and its presence in American voting systems.
Lindell “knowingly lied about Dominion to sell more pillows to people who continued to tune in to hear what they wanted to hear about the election,” the complaint claims.
After:MyPillow Twitter account suspended after platform ban by CEO of Trump ally Mike Lindell
After Dominion indicated he could sue him, Lindell amplified his allegations against the company in a documentary, amplifying multiple misinformation.
“Instead of retracting his lies, Lindell – a multimillionaire with an almost unlimited ability to deliver his favorite messages on conservative media – whined that he was being ‘censored’ and ‘attacked’ and produced a ‘docu-film’ featuring featuring shady characters and fake documents from the dark corners of the internet, ”the complaint read.
Conspiracy theories on Dominion and other election security companies circulated widely in the aftermath of the 2020 election. Dominion joins voting systems company Smartmatic, which has filed a $ 2.7 billion lawsuit against Fox News, to take legal action against top right-wing media personalities accused of broadcasting false information about the 2020 election. This month, Fox News Media filed a motion to dismiss the complaint, arguing that ‘it aims to “stifle debate and cool vital First Amendment activities.”
After:Dominion Voting Systems files $ 1.3 billion libel claim against former Trump attorney Sidney Powell
Lawsuits against Sydney Powell, Rudy Giuliani
In January, Dominion Voting Systems filed a libel suit against attorney Sidney Powell and Donald Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani over allegations they made about the company.
Powell’s broad conspiracy theory implicated the Dominion, late Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez, the CIA, and Chinese Communists in a plot to rig the election against Trump in various ways. Federal and state judges have repeatedly, sometimes derisively, rejected his efforts to prove his claims in court.
Checking the facts: Dominion Voting Machines Create Ballots Only For Audits, Testing
“Powell’s far-fetched accusations are patently false,” states the Dominion lawsuit. “Far from being created in Venezuela to rig the election of a now-deceased Venezuelan dictator, Dominion was founded in Toronto with the goal of creating a fully verifiable paper voting system that would allow people with disabilities to vote in a meaningful way. independent on verifiable paper ballots. “
The Colorado-based company says the paper-based voting guarantees used by its machines would have made the kind of conspiracy alleged by Powell impossible.
A 107-page lawsuit alleges Giuliani made more than 50 statements disparaging the company’s equipment in speeches, on Twitter and on podcasts.
“While he did not want to make false allegations of electoral fraud about Dominion and his voting machines in court because he knew those allegations were false, he and his allies fabricated and disseminated the ‘Big Lie’, which has presumably gone viral and cheated on millions of people. people to believe that Dominion had stolen their votes and fixed the election ”, indicates the lawsuit.
“Giuliani’s statements are defamatory,” says the lawsuit. “They exposed Dominion to the most extreme hatred and contempt.”
Giuliani said in a statement that the lawsuit would allow him to investigate the history, finances and practices of the company. He threatened counter-action alleging a violation of his constitutional right to freedom of expression.
